Apparatus for manufacturing bricks.



PATENTED MAY 5, 1903. E. EATON. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING BRICKS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1903.

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No. 727,114. A PATENTED MAY 5. 1903.

E. EATON. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING BRICKS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1903.

NO MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

2s A 28 26 39 A UNITE A STATES Patented May 5, 1903.

Fries.

UATENT EDMUND EATON, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 727,114, dated May 5,1903. Application filed February is, 1902. serial llTo'. 143,636. (Nomodel.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDMUND EATON, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, and a resident of London, in the county of Londou,England, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Manufacturing Bricks, (for which I have applied for patents in Great Britain,Nos. 2,371 and 2,372, dated January 31, 1903, in the names of Eaton,Pfeifer, and Briggs,) of which the following is a full, clear, and exactspecification.

The manufacture of building-bricks, blocks of artificial stone fromsand, clinkers, quartz, and various waste material or refuse inconjunction with an admixture of lime and a hardening steaming-chamber,has hitherto been made under various processes, none of.

which have been able to'produce an article of the requisite cohesion,strength, and reliability which is absolutely necessary in a substitutefor a hard-burned kiln or clamp brick composed of clay. The bricks orstone manufactured on the present systems have been found by practicalexperience up to'the present time to beinsufliciently tenacious,friable,

too porous, and lacking thosequalities whichare required of a goodbuilding brick or blockviz., hard, tough, not easily broken, and capableof resisting fire and moisture without crumbling and of beingtransported without damage,particularly to the edges,and of strongcohesion. fects and to produce a desirable and solid article, I haveintroduced certain improvements in the apparatus for dealing with thematerial of which the bricks or blocks maybe composed, which Iwill.hereinafter describe.

It is important that the lime, which forms an important feature in themanufacture, be completely slaked to powder and mixed, so that nounslaked particles are contained in the material, bricks, or blocks whenthey areplaced within the drying-chamber, which-I shall hereinafterillustrate and which may be heated by steam, superheatedstearn,hot-air,-

furnace-gases, or carboniceacid gas. (The latter may be produced withinthe drying or annealing chambers by slaking a quantity of lime.)Furthermore, it is of importance that the drying and annealing chambersbe at a certain temperature when the bricks or blocks or other materialsare placed within To overcome these at same and that for thedrying-chamber the temperature be gradually raised until a pressure isobtained of about one hundred and vide a line or flues under thesteaming-chamvber and pass the hot gases thereto from the boilerfurnace.This serves the dual purpose of rendering the same smoke consuming orcondensing and at the same time assists in keeping up the steam-pressureinside the steaming-chamber or for warming the chamber prior to thesteaming. It is also important that the steam be dry and as free frommoisture as possible and that the bricks on being withdrawn from thesteaming-chamber should graduallybe cooled down in acooling or annealingchamber, which is heated by exhaust-steam from the'steaming-chamber,

:which I .will presently describe.

It is very desirable in withdrawing the articles from thesteaming-chamber that they should be carefully handled, as until thebricks or blocks are cooled they are most liable to be damaged as aconsequence of any shock or vibration. It has been found by experiencethat when the bricks or blocks are stacked one upon the other on thetrucks or gwagons prior to enteringthe steaming or drying chamber notonly are they subject to vibration, but that the weight of the upperpart of' the stack upon the lower rows of bricks renders many defectivebricks or stones, and

to overcome these objections I arrange the bricks in the steaming ordrying chamber on a special cage or framing which runs along within thechamber on a single rail suitably arranged at thetop of thesteaming-chamber and extendingintothe annealing-chamber, as hereinafterdescribed. "In combination with the cage or framing aforesaid I employan improved form of truck or cage for conveying the molded'bricks orblocks from the press to the steaming or dryingchamber, the top of whichforms a platform upon which the cage aforementioned may rest and whichis suitably attached and detached to the under carriage of the aforesaidtruck and has suitable springs interposed between same and the undercarriage, so as to reduce the vibration to a minimum.

Referring to the annexed drawings, Figure l is a sectional sideelevation of the combined steaming and annealing chambers. Fig. 2represents a plan view of one end of same, particularly showing thearrangement of the rails for facilitating the movement of the ends orcovers and of the truck supporting the bricks and the like to besteamed. Fig. 3 is an end view of Fig. 1 to an enlarged scale, alsoshowing the truck and framing for supporting the bricks or the likepartly in section.

The combined hardening or steaming and annealing chambers consist,preferably, of a cylindricatshaped vessel 1, supported in any suitablemanner and provided with a sliding partition or door 2, thus dividingthe whole into two distinct compartments 3 and 4, the compartment 3being employed as the steaming-chamber and provided with the perforatedsteam-pipes 5, also a safety-valve and pressure-gage, while thecompartment 4 forms the annealingchamber. The partition or door 2 isoperated through the medium of a rod or rods 6, passing throughstuffing-boxes at the top of the steam-tight casing 7. The lower half ofthe partition or door may be semicircular in shape and the whole slidewithin a groove or recess formed in the sides of the chamber 1. Each endof the chamber is provided with removable steam-tight covers 8, whichmay be readily secured in position by pivoted or eye bolts 9, as shown.The covers 8 are mounted upon small carriages 10, supported on flangedwheels 11, free to run on rails 12, thus greatly facilitating the movingof the covers when required.

When a quantity of bricks are ready for steaming, the compartment 3 iswarmed up, its cover 8 removed and run on to a branch line 13, Fig. 2,the truck 14, supporting the case 15, containing the bricks, is runalong the lines-l2 to the steaming-chamber. The cage is provided withperforated sliding shelves 16, upon which the bricks are placed, asshown at 17, Fig. 3, said shelves being in halves and slide in from twoopposite sides of the cage and meet at a central perforated steam-pipe18. The top of the cage 15 has two pairs of beveled wheels 19 attachedthereto, engag:

ing with and free to run upon the rail 20, at

tached inside and along the top of the compartments 3 and 4, as shown.The bottom of the cage 15 is also provided with a set of small wheels 21to facilitate the removal of the cage from the top 22 of the truck 14,said top 22 being provided with parallel ridges 23 to act as guides tothe wheels 21, and thus insure the cage 15 being in correct position forthe engagement of the beveled wheels 19 with the rail 20. The cage 15 isnow pushed into the compartment 3, the truck 14 run back to themolding-department in readiness for the next load of bricks, and thecover 8 placed in position. Steam is now admitted to the com partment(through the medium of the perforated steam-pipes 5) for thedesired-period, when the supply would be shut OE and utilized to warmthe annealing-chamber and the partition or door 2 raised. The same cover8 is again removed and the cage 15 run into the annealing-compartment 4,which has previously become warmed, due to the radiation of heat fromthe compartment 3 or use of exhaust-steam or boiler-gases. The gapformed between the two lengths of rails is filled by a gap-piece 24 whenthe partition or door 2 is in its raised position, said gap-piece 24being attached centrally to the bottom of said partition or door andfits into a recess 25 when in its lower position. The cage 15 iswithdrawn from the annealing'compartment 4 by removing its cover 8 in asimilar manner to the cover of the compartment 3, as aforedescribed. Thetruck 14, upon which the cage 15 is supported, is so shaped as to form areceptacle for containing lime or the like, so that a preliminary dryingprocess may take place while the cage of bricks is being run from themolding-department to the steaming-chamber. Water or steam may beadmitted to the lime by means of a short pipe 26, and the hot gasesgiven 01f pass through perforations 27 in the top plate 22, theperforated shelves 16, and pipe 18. A mixer or agitator 28 is revolvedthrough the medium of a worm-wheel 29, attached to the spindle 30, and aworm 31, formed upon one of the axles 32, as shown. The top 22 has aflange 33 formed around same and is supported by the truck 14 throughthe medium of a series of springs 34, thus reducing the vibration of thebricks or the like to a minimum, as aforementioned. The cage 15 shouldbe longer than the truck 14, so that the first pair of bevel-wheels 19may engage with the rail 20 before the truck 14 is flush with the end ofthe chamber 1.

It will be seen that any desired number of cages 15 may be placed withinthe compartments 3 and 4 during the same period, according to thedimensions of same.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In apparatus for the manufacture of bricks or blocks from sand, lime,ashes and such like, the combined steaming and annealing chamberscomprising a cylindrical-shaped vessel having removable steam-tightdoors at each end thereof, a central sliding partition, a rail along theinterior and at the top of said chambers, a gap-piece attached centrallyto the bottom of said partition and adapted to fill the-gap between thetwo lengths of said rails; carriages mounted upon wheels and supportingthe steam-tight doors aforesaid, substantially as described herein.

2. In apparatus for the manufacture of bricks or blocks from sand, lime,ashes and such like, the combination with the combined steaming andannealing chambers,comprising a cylindrical-shaped vessel havingremovable steam-tight doors at each end thereof, a central slidingpartition, a rail along the interior and at the top of said chambers, agap-piece attached centrally to the bottom of said partition and adaptedto fill the gap be tween the tWo lengths of said rails; of a truckmounted upon Wheels and shaped so as to contain lime, a flangedperforated top,springs interposed between said perforated top and thetruck aforesaid,an agitator mounted upon a spindle and driven in anywell-known manner, acage mounted upon wheels and support: ed by butindependent of said truck, two

pairs of beveled wheels at the top of said cage adapted to engage withthe rail aforesaid, perforated shelves contained within said cage andupon which the bricks or blocks are mounted substantially as describedherein. 7

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I I have hereunto set my handthis 6th day of February, 1903.

EDMUND EATON.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN CLARK, WILLIAM JOHN WEEKS.

